What is in scope for panel discussions?

The Dog Off-Leash Guideline will outline how Council will provide, distribute, design and manage areas where dogs are allowed off-leash around Port Phillip.

Draft principles will be presented to the Panel at workshop 2 this coming Sunday. The Panel will workshop these principles at workshop 2. We will then refine these and test them against a series of common scenarios at workshop 3 on Saturday 15 July.

Once we have a set of principles that the Panel and Council are comfortable with, these will inform the Dog Off-Leash Guideline.

What's our purpose in developing these Guidelines?

The Dog Off-Leash Guidelines project is a short-term priority action in the Places for People: Public Space Strategy 2022-2023: ‘Investigate opportunities for new dog off-leash areas and review permitted times in all existing public open spaces including beaches’.

Our intention is to create guidelines that consider all users of public open space. That is why we have recruited 50% dog owners and 50% non-dog owners to this Panel.

Are we looking at increasing the number of places dogs can be off-leash?

The Dog Off-Leash Guidelines will outline how Council will provide, distribute, design and manage areas where dogs are allowed off-leash around Port Phillip. We have approximately 353 hectares of public open space, of which 43.13 hectares (12.18 per cent) is currently for dog off-leash areas.

What we know and heard during phase 1 of community engagement is that:

• There is an even distribution of dogs across our City, with an uneven distribution of dog off-leash areas
• On leash, dogs can access all our public open spaces and most of our Foreshore
• Our dog population is growing
• Our community feels that an even distribution of dog off-leash areas is important.

The size of all our public open spaces is listed by neighbourhood, along with supporting maps, in the Public Space Strategy Technical Report, which you can access here

Which Council strategies relate to the development of the Guidelines, and how will the Guidelines interact with existing planning policies?

There are a number of strategies informing the development of the Dog Off-Leash Guideline, including the:

• Council Plan 2021-2031
• Local Law No. 1
• Places for People: Public Space Strategy 2022 – 2032
• Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022 – 2025
• Foreshore Management Plan 2012
• Asset Management Policy 2021.

Our Council Plan 2021 – 31 and the Port Phillip Planning Scheme are the key policy drivers for all our planning for public open space. Our planning for public open space is also informed by Victorian Government policy including Plan Melbourne 2017 – 2050 and the Open Space Strategy for Metropolitan Melbourne 2031.

How does Port Phillip compare to other council areas regarding access and opportunity to open areas?

To provide a greater understanding of the provision of dog off-leash areas in Melbourne comparatively to City of Port Phillip and to inform the guidelines, we have undertaken benchmarking against eight councils including Melbourne, Yarra, Stonnington, Bayside, Glen Eira, Kingston and Boroondara. A copy of this report is available here

What's the cleaning schedule of dog off-leash areas located on the beach?

Our beaches are mechanically cleaned weekly all year around, and daily at St Kilda during summer, when there is also daily manual litter collection along our 11km of beaches.

The mechanical cleaning is carried out between 4am - 9am and cannot occur during the day when beaches are frequented by people and dogs.

For more information on the cleaning schedule please see Beach and foreshore cleaning - City of Port Phillip

Where there is dog off-leash access shared with sporting places, do restrictions apply to dogs on the whole sporting area or only the fenced area?

Dogs must be on lead within 20 metres of an organised sporting event or training.

Are we looking at increasing the number of places dogs can be off-leash?

The Dog Off-Leash Guidelines will outline how Council will provide, distribute, design and manage areas where dogs are allowed off-leash around Port Phillip. We have approximately 353 hectares of public open space, of which 43.13 hectares (12.18 per cent) is currently for dog off-leash areas.

What we know and heard during phase 1 of community engagement is that:

• There is an even distribution of dogs across our City, with an uneven distribution of dog off-leash areas
• On leash, dogs can access all our public open spaces and most of our Foreshore
• Our dog population is growing
• Our community feels that an even distribution of dog off-leash areas is important.

The size of all our public open spaces is listed by neighbourhood, along with supporting maps, in the Public Space Strategy Technical Report, which you can access here

Is there any potential for pop-up dog parks?

We are open to exploring different ideas and suggestions with the Panel.

What public land in our City is owned by the state government, managed by Council and is accessible to our community?

The majority of public open space in our City is Reserve Crown Land that is owned by the Victorian Government, with Council appointed as the Committee of Management. This includes:

• The majority of the foreshore, with the exception of the St Kilda Sea Baths, the sea bed and Maritime Cove (Perc White Reserve)
• All State open space including St Kilda Foreshore, Catani Gardens and the St Kilda Botanical Gardens
• All Regional open space
• All City-wide/Municipal open space, with the exception of Morris Reserve in Port Melbourne
• All Neighbourhood open space
• Some of the Local and Small Local open space reserves.

In addition, Albert Park Reserve is the largest public space in our City. While it is managed by Parks Victoria, it performs a crucial role in meeting the active and passive recreation needs of our residents, including providing two designated dog off-leash areas.

How many dog owners are there in our City, and what's the percentage of dog off-leash space?

Our current population in the City of Port Phillip is 103,508 and in 2022/23 we had 8,617 dogs living here.

We have approximately 353 hectares of public open space, of which 43.13 hectares (12.18 per cent) is for dog off-leash areas.

There are dogs in apartments in Port Phillip who need space but so do people. How do we balance this?

As more people live in apartments, parks are replacing backyards and urban spaces are becoming the ‘living rooms’ where people meet and interact. Our community relies on our public open spaces for leisure, recreation and social connectedness. These challenges are what informed the development of the principles for our Places for People: Public Space Strategy 2022 – 2032, ensuring our spaces are designed to host a variety of uses.

We are already one of Victoria’s most densely populated municipalities and our population is forecast to grow to an expected 128,000 people by 2031. As our City grows, it makes access to public space even more important to the health and wellbeing of our community.

Care has been taken to ensure the Deliberative Panel represent our Port Phillip community as much as possible to ensure we can consider the needs of all user groups.

Do we have statistics on park usage by non dog-owners?

We have recently installed gate sensors at our two dog parks, MO Moran Reserve in Elwood and Eastern Reserve in South Melbourne, to track overall park usage. We do not have any data to help us differentiate between dog-owners and non dog-owners in our public open spaces.

We are continually exploring opportunities to improve data collection methods and enhance our understanding of community usage patterns.

There are community members with disability who may be impacted by dogs in the community, how will this be approached?

This needs to be considered throughout the development of the guidelines and we will be consulting with our Access and Inclusion team throughout the project.

We need to ensure that the guideline aligns with the key move in our Places for People: Public Space Strategy 2022 – 2032 to ‘ensure that public spaces in the City are accessible for people with disability in line with Council’s Access and Inclusion Plan’.

There are a lot of people using the spaces (that live outside of Port Phillip). Can we have a usage breakdown of the foreshore for different seasons?

It is difficult to get an accurate breakdown of foreshore usage, including for different seasons, as we currently have no means of tracking the exact number of visitors.

We know high level data such as that St Kilda Beach sees over 3 million visitors annually and during summer the St Kilda Promenade can see up to 500 cyclists and 3,000 pedestrians in the space of one hour.

Obtaining precise data on the foreshore usage becomes complex. We acknowledge the importance of such information but currently lack the means to provide a detailed breakdown of usage for different seasons.

We are continually exploring opportunities to improve data collection methods and enhance our understanding of community usage patterns.

Why is Alma Park so popular for dog owners?

The Balaclava/St Kilda East neighbourhood only has eight open spaces, including Alma Park, which is one of our highest quality public open spaces.

Balaclava/St Kilda East has the lowest amount of open space in the municipality. Open space makes up only five per cent of the total area of the neighbourhood, compared to the City average of 17 per cent.

Alma Park is also situated on the border of Port Phillip and Stonnington, meaning it is well used by our community and visitors.

What are some of the ways Council is encouraging responsible dog ownership and behaviours?

Current data on the percentage of non-renewed dog registrations known to Council currently stands at 12.79%.

To address this issue, Animal Management is actively following up as part of the registration renewal process.

In accordance with the Victorian Government’s Domestic Animals Act 1994, it is mandatory for greyhounds to be leashed at all times in public, including designated off-leash areas. However, they are not legally obligated to wear muzzles in public.

Council organises various events throughout the year to promote responsible pet ownership and provide educational opportunities, including Dogs in the Park, which offers dog training sessions hosted by the Lost Dogs Home, as well as Howl-o-Ween.

Additionally, the Pets of Port Phillip program provides a free de-sexing program to pet owners in the area. These initiatives aim to enhance public awareness and encourage responsible pet ownership practices.

Will there be training for dog owners as part of this project/guidelines?

That is not in the scope of the Dog Off-Leash Guideline. Council organises various events throughout the year to promote responsible pet ownership and provide educational opportunities, including Dogs in the Park, which offers dog training sessions hosted by the Lost Dogs Home.

A register of dog trainers can be found at Dog trainers - City of Port Phillip.

What kind of training do Animal Management Officers have?

To ensure the proficiency of Local Laws Officers, ongoing training is provided including:

• Safe animal handling
• Dangerous dog training
• Barking dog training
• De-escalation techniques
• Pet first aid
• Participation in online seminars offered by the Australian Institute of Animal Management.

Many officers bring valuable experience from previous roles in other Council animal management departments. Additionally, they have undergone previous training, including certification in Animal Control & Regulation at the certificate IV level.

Additional information can be found in Council’s Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022 – 25.

Are Council Officers who enforce the current and revised rules/guidelines present at the right times (i.e. the busy use times)?

Local Laws Cfficers carry out both proactive patrols and patrols in response to community requests. Local Laws Officers focus on hotspot areas and specific times, when resources are available to do so.

How do we design spaces for good animal management?

How we design spaces for dog off-leash areas will be determined throughout the development of the Dog Off-Leash Guideline and may consider various factors such as, but not limited to:

• Size and layout of the open space
• Fencing requirements
• Position of waste bins
• Adequate signage
• Interpretive signage.

How are we going to make shared spaces that are safe for children and older community members?

We will be considering this as part of the discussion on principles for the Dog Off Leash Guideline. It is important to note that dogs are not permitted within 5 metres of playgrounds.

We do not currently have access to data about where young children and dog areas overlap. However, we do know that the Balaclava/St Kilda East, Elwood/Ripponlea and Port Melbourne neighbourhoods have a higher proportion of family households with children.

How do we make dog spaces safer for our community later at night, especially for women?

Council has embedded Gender Impact Assessments in its project planning processes and we will be preparing one for this project.

This is particularly important as during phase 1 we found that dog owners are more likely to be female.

We need to ensure that designs are informed by Crime Prevention through Environmental Design principles and evidence regarding gender and safety in public spaces.

Would you be willing to fence some shared spaces, especially as dog owners and non-owners want fenced areas for everyone's safety?

In phase 1 of the community engagement, we heard that to increase enjoyment and reduce conflict of use in our public open spaces, there is a preference for separation between different uses such as playgrounds, BBQs and picnic areas from dog off-leash areas.

This can be achieved through fencing, landscaping or other design methods and we will consider these options as we move into the development of the guidelines.

We also heard during phase 1 from dog owners that our fencing and gates need improvement. As we continue to work with the panel and develop the guidelines we will consider how we balance this.

What are the trade-offs between using the space for dog off-leash spaces and what it should look like?

When we design our public open spaces for any use, including dog off-leash areas, we need to ensure that the spaces are:

• Long-lasting and constructed with high quality materials
• Considering whole-of-life costs and environmental impacts
• Resilient to our changing climate, including projected sea level rise
• Informed by Crime Prevention through Environmental Design principles and evidence regarding gender and safety in public spaces.

We have access to highly skilled Council Officers and external consultants to guide the design of our public open spaces, including dog off-leash areas.

How do we take into account areas with environmental significance?

One of the City-wide outcomes from our Places for People: Public Space Strategy 2022 – 2032 is ensuring that:

‘Our public spaces are greener and incorporating water sensitive design and management. A diversity of healthy tree species and vegetation in our streets and public spaces have a positive influence on the health and wellbeing of our community and support a flourishing biodiversity. Incorporating water in public spaces makes our spaces greener and cooler, helps to mitigate flooding and ensure water is not wasted’.

Is there a budget allocated by Council for dog parks?

The 10-year financial plan includes dedicated budget for dog parks, in alignment with the actions outlined in the Places for People: Public Space Strategy 2022-32.